Contribution short abstract:

In Mailuu-Suu, a former uranium mining town in southern Kyrgyzstan, the harmful legacies of the town's uranium past are a common burden equally shared in its environmental consequences, but the opportunities associated with remediation work are uncommoned for the purposes of external interests.

Contribution long abstract:

The dissolution of the Soviet Union has left the residents of Mailuu-Suu, a former uranium mining town in southern Kyrgyzstan, grappling with social, economic, and environmental ruination. The town’s rapid de-industrialization—a result of the neoliberal pressures exerted on local industries by Western financial institutions—and the toxic legacies of two decades of uranium mining and processing—in the form of three million cubic meters of radioactive residues dispersed across the surrounding mountainous area—have brought Mailuu-Suu perilously close to a post-apocalyptic state. The remediation work that recently started in Mailuu-Suu could alleviate both the environmental and the socio-economic suffering, but this is not the case. The private companies involved implement hiring practices set by international organizations that exclude locals from the well-paid jobs created in their own community. Similarly, the international grants made available for training sessions and capacity-building initiatives are accessible only to experts and organizations with no ties to the town. For the residents of Mailuu-Suu, this exclusion is a source of deep frustration. The remediation work taking place around them is framed as a pathway to a better post-uranium future for the entire country, but it excludes the very people most affected by the uranium legacy. They are thus left to wonder why the uranium past is a common burden equally shared in its environmental consequences—as the uranium residues contaminate the land, air, and water for all residents—but the opportunities associated with its remediation are uncommoned for the purposes of profit and external interests.